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Post by SporkBot on Dec 4, 2018 11:09:58 GMT -5
So this morning, my monitor abruptly lost the signal to my computer (which it's wired to). Then after a few beeps (not rapid, more like "beep, several seconds, beep", the computer restarted itself. I went to Safe Mode, figured I could do a scan since the monitor seemed to be working, but it eventually went "No Signal" again, and the beeps returned. I shut it off via keyboard, and used my Mom's PC for a solution.
One video suggested turning off the computer, unplugging the power cord from both ends, pressing the power button for a minute, then plugging it back in. Tried that, and it seemed to work fine...for a few minutes, when I get "No Signal" again. Right now, when that happens, I put the computer into Sleep Mode, wait five-to-ten minutes, then wake it up. That gives me about 5 minutes or so before it blacks out again.
The monitor is older than the comp; when I realized my machine didn't come with a monitor, I used one from one of my Mom's old PCs, and it's worked fine ever since. Any diagnostics on Hardware haven't turned up anything, other than the possibility of using a restore point before an update on Nov. 29. A critical update. (And yes, as I'm typing this, it's doing it again. I'm currently typing blind, and will be putting it to sleep soon...
...
...there we go).
I couldn't get my PC's visuals to show up on my laptop, and I don't have a cable long enough to hook it to my TV (I doubt my old tube TV would work). I've texted my brother-in-law, who's pretty good with computers, but I figured I'd check here for insight, just to cover my bases.
It's seeming more like it could by my NVIDIA GeForce 9100 graphics card (if I read correctly). I don't know if get a can of air and cleaning the inside would help, but any thoughts on the matter would be greatly appreciated.
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Post by Greatshot on Dec 4, 2018 11:15:38 GMT -5
Gotta be the GPU or something in the GPU chain (driver, voltage to it, temperature etc). No way for a monitor to cause a critical failure/restart. I've had heat issues with NVIDIA cards on more than one occasion so that'd be my first look, so cleaning it out may very well help if the fan's filled with dust.
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Post by machsabre on Dec 4, 2018 17:43:50 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm leaning toward the card myself too. But before you spend a lot of money on taking it in... Clean the hell out of all the vents. You'd be surprised how much that works.
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Post by SporkBot on Dec 4, 2018 18:47:00 GMT -5
No joke, the blacking out happened just as I was going to respond. Another blind typing!
But yeah, in hindsight, there's been quite a bit of dust around the computer area (it's on the bottom of a custom-made shelf next to my desk), so some canned air should hopefully do the tick. I've been too irked I guess it didn't immediately account o me because the only time I've ever cleaned it out, was a couple years back when I had to take it in to a repair shop. And I'd already had it for several years, but there was hardly any dust in there.
And actually, I've been able to use the computer for longer periods. And the screen actually came back after I came back from the bathroom just now, so it may not be too serious. Don't know if that's because I let it sleep longer or what, but...yeah, I should get on that.
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Post by triumshockwave on Dec 5, 2018 19:35:12 GMT -5
Rather than test the PC, test the monitor. Plug the monitor into your laptop or another PC, and see if it does the same thing.
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Post by SporkBot on Dec 5, 2018 22:59:14 GMT -5
Turns out it was an accumulation of dust. More than it had before I took it in. Had to use tweezers to get some of it out (I assume from the graphics card).
My bro-in-law called earlier, and I told him everything, and from what he said, the beeping as a sign of overheating. Makes sense, but I'd figure they'd have a visual notice on the screen of that. But hey, problem's fixed. Just have to be more careful about the dust situation.
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Post by triumshockwave on Dec 6, 2018 21:18:53 GMT -5
We had a guy complaining because he said somebody told him his fans were loud because his PC was too dirty, and he said that was a "bullshit excuse" for why his PC is slow. Now, that's a reasonable assessment if you see the thing and it has dust caked in it. He claimed somebody told him this over the phone, which would not have happened. Nobody would have declared his PC to be dirty over the phone. When pressed on who said that, he suddenly couldn't remember. Right.
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Post by SporkBot on Jan 8, 2019 17:36:15 GMT -5
Well, joy of joys, this is happening again. Woke up this morning, got my comp outta sleep mode, and the monitor claimed it wasn't getting a signal. After I get back from the bathroom, it's working fine...except it seems my computer restarted. Do my usual morning routine, head out to see Bumblebee, get back and mere moments after "waking up", the comp does the same thing (I hear beeps, from the computer), and same thing happens: I go to the bathroom, only to return to a restarted computer.
When it blacks out and goes static in the middle of both a YouTube video and a full system scan from Window Defender, I turn it off, and decide to dust it out again. More dust than I expected, but not nearly as much as before. I tweezer out a small concentration of dust from what I think is the graphics card fan (it has a lever on top). I get as much dust out as I can.
It's weird that this is happening again so soon. After the restart this afternoon, I wrote down the information on the "Problem Event" (Bluescreen...which I guess is applicable even if the screen didn't ACTUALLY go blue). I Google what BCCode 116 is about, and one site suggests looking for driver updates for Windows. Of the five I notice were available (one for my new screen), none seemed to be about any driver.
If it's a matter of dusting the thing out once a month...it's a bit tedious, but better than a more costly alternative. But I can't tell if it just needs more routine dusting.
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Post by machsabre on Jan 8, 2019 21:08:16 GMT -5
Shit. Shit shit shit shit.
I'm sorry man, I'm 99.9999% certain that's your hard drive going bad. Those are the EXACT symptoms my old comp had when it went south.
Back everything you can up on an external drive and get everything prepared right now. It's not long for the world.
Fortunately, hard drives aren't expensive.
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Post by SporkBot on Jan 9, 2019 10:39:54 GMT -5
Last night, it seemed to work fine, no problems. Then this morning, after about an hour, it went black again. I restarted it, then it started blinking out, and I managed to shut down. After my morning walk, I unplugged everything, hit it with canned air again (got some dust out of the fan in the back that I didn't before), and unscrewed a fan unit on the side...one with a hinge (what I think is or is for the graphics card, but I don't know). I found a fairly long dust bunny that had been lodged there, removed it, put everything back together, and it seems to be fine.
Before I go buying any hard drives or anything, I want to run a diagnostic on it. But I've got the drive defragmenting right now, and I want to finish that, first.
This WOULD come up before I've gotten any episodes together for my next season. I've done a couple vlogs for Titans (before the pop-up-per click site I was watching it on banned my IP. Oh well), but haven't recorded anything for the second anniversary episode, my Cassie Cain rant video for the Tuesday before her in-universe birthday, or that Guestsheaux I'm taking another stab at. But that's all more my procrastination for the past several weeks. Good thing I'm doing 1 comic per episode again this season, AND that I've got some stuff already recorded that I didn't get to in the first two seasons.
UPDATE EDIT: I think watching video makes it black out quicker. That could point the graphics card, no? That...could make episode production trickier.
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